Suspicious Chat

Lucas, intrigued by the newly available options, accessed the system menu, stating, "System, show me the functions list."

As Lucas commanded, the system displayed a number of options in the form of a list, each with its suboptions and a brief description.

[System Functions List]

[1. Personal Information

-Status: Provides a comprehensive overview of Lucas's current condition, including health, mana, experience points, skills, and other relevant attributes.

-Inventory: Displays the items Lucas currently possesses, categorized neatly for easy access.

-Quest Log: Shows the quests given to a player, to complete.]

[2. Communication

-Regional Chat: Allows the user to post messages on the chat shown to all the players of the region.

-World Chat: Not available now.]

[3. Buying and Selling

-Marketplace: A virtual marketplace where players can buy and sell items, weapons, and equipment.

-Shops: Access to in-system shops offering a variety of goods.]

[4. Auction

-Auction: A platform for players to bid on rare and valuable items, enhancing the trading experience.

[5. Player Rankings (Aggregating)

-Regional Ranking: Ranks the player in a region based on combat prowess, achievements, the number of monsters killed, and other criteria.

-World Rankings: Not available for you.

-Crafting Ranking: Showcases the rankings of players in crafting and item creation, based on the number of items they have created and their class.]

[6. Player Broadcasting (Not Available)

-This function is currently inactive and under construction.]

[7. Announcements

-Special and Other Quest Announcements: Given by the system and divine beings, will be displayed here.]

[8. Other Options Exclusive to the Demon Side (No Rights)]

[For further information, please click or say the option out loud.]

Lucas, intrigued by the array of new options available on the list, thought to himself, "This is a really well-organized list of options, and they even opened an auction."

As Lucas went down the list, reading each option, he continued in his mind, his brows furrowing in anger, "All of them will be really helpful in making sure we stay alive for some more time, for these gods, huh."

Pausing for a moment, he noticed the last option, "What does it mean exclusive to the demon side?"

He decided to leave it for now, as there wasn't much he could do about it. He then observed the 'Announcement' option with a small red mark near it and remarked, "It seems something is there." Intrigued, he clicked on the option.

Upon opening the Announcement option, Lucas saw the message displayed by the system:

[Announcement, 1. official change]

[The world has been officially changed on 15/11/20XX! In the first round of class card selection, a total of 12,638,569 people were chosen as players. There are currently 1,987,369 who have survived among the non-choosers of class cards and 10,134,434 among the one who were already players. The second round of class card selection will take place on 15/12/20XX. Humanity, we look forward to your active participation in the next round of class selection.]

Lucas, contemplating the announcement, thought to himself, "The next round of class selection? This is just in 3 days."

As he was thinking, Ella, standing behind him, said in a worried voice with her hand covering her mouth, "There are only so few humans left; they are not even 1% of before."

Lucas, upon hearing Ella's observation, decided to check the regional chat. However, he found it relatively quiet, with not many messages coming in.

"It seems people understood the importance of messages now," he noted. Ella, standing behind him, interrupted, "Oppa, it seems they added an option to send more messages than 2 each day now, but it requires 1000 god coins per extra message."

Lucas smirked and remarked, "They just want to make it difficult for us. It will take at least a hundred goblins to get this many god coins."

[The divine being, (Snake that Wraps Around the World), comments that if you want to be ahead of others, then you need to risk that much.]

[The divine being, (Good Season to Hunt), remarks that the administrative bureau has done a really good job in designing the system.]

[The divine being, (Owl that Pierces the Dusk), expresses disagreement in the limit of options, but it will not be in the justice of other races if one is given favor.]

While Lucas was perusing the divine messages with a feeling of disdain, Ella suddenly remarked from behind, "Oppa, look, someone sent a message in the chat."

Lucas, intrigued, reopened the chat and read the message:

[-Ko*-4996

[Is anyone there?

If anyone is reading this, please leave a comment! We're a group of players who've reached level 20. We're currently building a safe zone at the H department complex, Gyeonggi province. If you're close by, please leave a comment.]

While Lucas was reading the message, comments started pouring in:

[Ko*-1541

Really? We're in that area. How do we find you?]

[Ko*-4996

Wait for us in the park of the complex, and we'll come and pick you up. It costs gold to write a comment, so we can't afford to answer every question you might have here.]

Ella, seeing the message, exclaimed, "H department, isn't it near the store we're going to go?"

Lucas, hearing this, looked at Ella and said, "We can head there before going to the library then?"

Lucas, observing the messages and comments, contemplated with a hint of worry in his mind, "How could they spend their daily messages and god coins so easily?... Even I only managed to reach level 18, and Ella to level 11 because of being in a party with me and her crafting, yet they're already at level 20?"

[The divine being, (the great demon that chases after the abyss), smiles seeing the messages but does not want to say why.]

Lucas's contemplation shifted to suspicion seeing the 'Great Demon' message, his eyes fixed on the system screen as he continued in his mind, "Something smells fishy about this. Even the great demon is smiling. But we do need to meet up with some high-level survivors, we can't survive alone for too long."

Suddenly, Lucas noticed a comment by Ko*-4996, posted after the second comment got deleted. Confused, he remarked, "Huh?"

[This comment got deleted by the player.]

[Ko*-1541 I didn't see the comment above. Why was it deleted? Was it something important?]

As Lucas read the messages, another message from Ko*-4996 followed, adding to his confusion.

[Ko*-4996 It's nothing, some moron posted a bunch of bullshit, so I deleted it. Please disregard. Be careful on your way.]

On the other side, in a dark room, a man with a big belly and biceps stared at his system screen.

The blue light from the system screen reflected on his face as he smiled, revealing two big incisor teeth touching his bottom lip. Drops of sweat rolled down his cheek.

On the other side, Lucas and his sister stood in awe. Ella expressed her shock, "This is really big," to which Lucas, also taken aback, replied, "Yeah, it is, but it looks cool too."

The siblings had already reached the teleportation portal. Smart survivors were congregating near the giant circular stone structure, standing up to two stories tall, the intricate symbols carved on the circular structure's surface.

The ground around it was charred black, as if the portal had fallen from the sky burning the whole ground.

Ella, standing near the portal with Lucas, questioned, observing the somber expressions on the faces of the people nearby, "But why isn't anyone using it?"

With a composed expression, Lucas replied, "We will find out soon enough," as both of them approached the portal.

They observed stairs leading up to the platform on which the portal stood—a black slab of 4ft with a slot in it as if something were meant to go inside.

When Lucas ascended the first stair, a sudden message materialized before him, and simultaneously, Ella received the same prompt.

With a bemused expression, she asked, "Oppa, did you also get what I just received?"

Lucas, his gaze fixed on the system message, replied with a wry chuckle, "I was expecting it. They won't hand out something like this for free."

[The player's actions have triggered a unique quest participation for him.]

[Unique Quest: "Portal of Triumph"]

[To succeed as a player, acquiring valuable items and materials is imperative. However, the journey to obtain them requires traversing vast distances fraught with peril and danger. In response, we've established five portals in each country. Yet, these portals aren't freely accessible; players must earn their activation.]

[Objective: Defeat the area boss and acquire the activation token.]